OK, yes, this post is late. It covers the week of Monday 26 August to 1 September 2024, but it’s already late at night on 3 September. It may help that this Weekly Wrap includes two podcasts and a new crowdfunder, and not just the weekend’s social activities? Yes. Definitely.
Please consider The 9pm Spring Series 2024 crowdfunder
Look at all the wattle! It’s spring! So I guess it’s time to organise yet another season of special-guest episodes of my inappropriate and often disturbing podcast for grown-ups The 9pm Edict.
On Wednesday night I launched this season’s crowdfunding campaign, The 9pm Winter Spring 2024.
Please click though, read, and consider pledging your support. You have until Thursday 19.
Podcasts
- The 9pm the Solar System is Being a Jerk with Rami Mandow, an episode about space news recorded back on 8 August and finally posted on Monday,
- The 9pm War on Social Media with Professor Axel Bruns, recorded on Wednesday and posted on Saturday evening,
The 9pm Edict is supported by the generosity of its listeners — such as via the crowdfunder just plugged. If you miss that deadline, you can always throw a few coins into the tip jar or subscribe for special benefits. Please consider.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #33. Defence to get $11 billion IT upgrade, “Twiggy” Forrest takes on Meta with an early win, more sookage about the News Media Bargaining Code from both sides, and much more.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Media Appearances, Photos, Videos, Corporate Largesse
None of these. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when livestreams are scheduled.
Recommendations
The Musky news was all about Elon’s fight with Brazil and other regulators this week.
- It happened after the podcast with Axel Bruns was recorded but just in time to be mentioned in an update edited in at the end: Brazil begins blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
- However, Starlink emerges as fresh battleground between Musk, Brazil, because he won’t obey Brazil’s order to cut himself off.
- How Elon Musk’s endorsement of Trump may have backfired. “Donald Trump’s embrace of Musk’s anti-union actions could have long-term consequences.”
- Elon Musk is out of control. Here is how to rein him in, by Robert Reich, makes some interesting points.
- That said, as Carole Cadwalladr writes, Don’t rejoice yet, Elon Musk and his tech bros-in-arms are winning the global battle for the truth.
- Some great background from the New York Times: How Elon Musk Got Tangled Up in Blue. “Twitter Blue, a revamped subscription service that let users buy verified badges, was the first big test for the platform’s new owner. It didn’t go well.” The link jumps the paywall.
- But there was some good news for him. Elon Musk, Tesla Win Dismissal of Lawsuit Alleging Dogecoin Market Manipulation.
In other news:
- A good point about AI manipulation: Our basic assumptions about photos capturing reality are about to go up in smoke, and no one is ready for it.
- A solid effort here: Every passenger train and tram in Australia – all on one big map.
- OmnesViae is a route planner for the Roman Empire, based on historical data.
- New from Shanghai hyperpop artist Jiafeng ???: Dicelife ????.
- And please be having a poem, Drinking Alone in the Moonlight by Li Po, now pronounced Li Bai. So not the dive bar named Li Po in San Francisco’s Chinatown, which I love, despite even the owner saying to me “What? You choose to come to my dive bar?”. Or maybe because of that.
The Week Ahead
My week has already begun. It started in Sydney on Monday, but II returned to the Blue Mountains that afternoon after the usual errands and shopping. Tuesday was a desk day, kinda, and a long nap.
There’s two conferences online this week and I’ll try to catch a few of the sessions in between client work, plugging the crowdfunder, and podcast planning.
Monday and Tuesday there’s The Sydney Dialogue from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute — which I know is now over but the videos will be online. And Wednesday to Friday it’s APNIC 58 from Wellington in New Zealand.
On Saturday I’m heading down to Sydney to stay with a co-conspirator through to 18 September. It’s all about a change of scenery. As an aside, it’s my medium-term intention to finally return to living in Sydney for a variety of reasons, so I’m starting to leap at every opportunity.
Further Ahead
- ABC Radio RN Drive “Big Tech” spot, 12 September 2024.
- NSW Local Government Elections, 14 September 2004. This is mostly a reminder to myself but there may be some sort of celebration.
- Queensland expedition, flying to Cairns on 13 October 2024, taking the Spirit of Queensland train down to Brisbane on 16 October and overnight, then visiting the Gold Coast on 20 October before flying back to Sydney on 21 October. I’m still fleshing out the details but there’s bound to be opportunities to catch up for drinks and such.
- NEW: Sydney Days, 26 October to 18 November 2024 (TBC). The dates have yet to be finalised, but I have another opportunity to base myself in Sydney for a while.
- Australian Internet Governance Forum (auIGF) 2024, formerly known as NetThing, Melbourne and online, 28–29 October 2024 (TBC).
- NSW: An expedition to Victoria which includes a friend’s birthday celebrations, 6–9 December 2024. This trip will almost burn off the last of my frequent flyer points from the Beforetimes.
[Photo: Ah, Friday afternoon cocktails! This one is a Bulleit Rye Old Fashioned from Miss Celie’s, being a double shot of Bulleit Rye whisky, sugar, and Peychaud’s bitters — plus, obviously, a twist of orange and a maraschino cherry. Photographed on 31 August 2024.]